


Badger the Light

by Kaoupa



Series: A Pink Planet [13]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), Steven Universe: Save The Light (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, F/F, F/M, Gem/Human Hybrids (Steven Universe), Gem/Human Relationships (Steven Universe)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23119936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: The Prism is an odd thing. Not a gem, but closer to one than a human. Not a machine, but not a gem either. It is difficult to really describe it.It has a mind of its own, though. Pretty similar to a gem's. But not quite. It's not hard to understand, though.People really like it a lot, though.
Relationships: Barbara Miller/Original Gem Character, Bill Dewey & Original Gem Character, Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Dante Barriga/Martha Barriga, Doug Maheswaran/Priyanka Maheswaran, Kofi Pizza/Original Gem Character, Mr. Fryman/Original Gem Character, Rose Quartz | Pink Diamond/Greg Universe, Vidalia/Yellowtail (Steven Universe)
Series: A Pink Planet [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1276724
Comments: 9
Kudos: 46





	1. Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Steven Universe.

It was a typical summer day, down in Beach City.

Peedee Fryman, who people often mistook for his older brother Ronaldo, was helping his father at the fry shop, pulling out some of the cooking oil that he’d obtained yesterday. The local food distributors had been recycling oils from their store for several years now.

Ronaldo Fryman was typing away on his large-size all-tool, carefully preparing several choice wordsets to send off to the “news centers” (or as many called them, propaganda centers) in the other Courts. Trying to see what new issues might be happening on Earth or in the rest of the Gem Empire was important business, and he would try to keep everyone else up to date on what he discovered after he’d found some semi-solid conclusions.

Sour Cream and Buck Dewey were working on their musical skills, under the tutelage of Greg Universe. Specifically, on the guitar that Greg had… well, it hadn’t made him world-class famous, but it had made him fairly popular in certain circles.

Kiki and Jenny Pizza had initially been strong-armed by their father Kofi into working at Fish Stew Pizza. Then, he had gotten yelled at by his wife Serpentine until Jenny went off to meet her friends, and Kiki started working on her studies of the court system (something that earned her both a sigh and an affectionate smile from her mother before she left for her job).

Nanefua Pizza was cheerfully enjoying her planned-out retirement, helping around the restaurant (when it was necessary and she felt like it), and enjoying the sunny day.

Yellowtail had gone off on one of the local “work” Warp Pads to one of the many offworld fishing reservoirs (long-held restrictions on AI meant that any mechanical trawlers tended to just grab every last fish in the reservoirs).

Vidalia had been up late last night working on a rather well-done painting of the view from the clifftop of the ocean and the beach below, with the aid of a few Jaspers who had been patrolling.

Kevin was cruising the local scene, trying (as usual) to prove his self-perceived superiority to everyone around him by cruising in his family’s incredibly rare and expensive hovermobile (which his mother had talked to him about several times).

Mayor Dewey was studiously ignoring Kevin’s less-than-legal activities and trying to call in one of the gem guards to deal with it.

Jane had left Beach City for that day, after her mother (a Tan Pearl formerly from the Yellow Court) had brought her in to work with her, as one of the local cleaning service and maintenance crews.

(Holo-Pearls, if you could figure out how to program them right, were amazing in that regard).

Lars Barriga and Sadie Miller were inside the local food distribution center, already helping at the bakery and taking inventory, respectively.

Harold Smiley and Quentin Frowney were opening up Funland, and several of the rides already had gems on them who'd snuck on overnight.

Steven Universe was ignoring Onion as the latter started preparing what looked like a molotov cocktail and simultaneously eying Kevin’s vehicle.

Connie Maheswaran was enjoying her summer vacation, feeling slightly disturbed by the sheer dislike present in Steven’s eyes, and wondering if she could be held responsible for whatever Onion did if she didn’t try to stop him.

Priyanka Maheswaran was learning the ropes at the incredibly advanced medical clinic that she had been taking to, marveling over the many different monthly tests that had been created to ensure that the hybrids in the settlement were all safe and healthy, and their gem and human parts working in tune.

Doug Maheswaran was carefully scanning the area - he had been told beforehand that the human guards were meant more to “blend in” with the locals, and make sure nobody was doing anything semi-illegal. Gems stood out far more than he would.

The gem guards on the outskirts of the town and on guard by the Warp Pads were scanning the roads and borders a little half-heartedly, but still faithfully. After all, they were part of the Inner Court, sent there by their Diamond to prevent any fanatics, human or gem, from getting into the town and causing damage. Or geminals, the list had recently started including. But regardless, their job was to destroy any hostile entities before they made it into the town.

At least, in theory they were supposed to do that.

To be fair, the light constructs that weren’t chameleons sneaking into the city were being carried inside the bodies of larger ones that were.

Elsewhere… well, not quite on Earth, a spaceship appeared. Well, not quite appeared, but it made the jump into the system, the massive Warp construct at the edge of the solar system having established the connection that was coming from the systems of the Yellow Court and pushing it into the system’s spaceport (for transfers between colonies and the Courts of personnel or materials, or for spaceships that didn’t have landing zones on Earth or when their owners couldn’t be bothered to register them).

And two of the gem staff at the spaceport (who were both part of the Inner Court) sighed as the warning sign for it appeared on the first one’s screen.

“She’s back again.” Bronzite sighed, already dreading the oncoming headache and soon-to-be conflicting schedules and arguments.

“They _all_ are. This is going to be unpleasant…” the gem next to her - a Rosolite, in charge of the military ships at the spaceport, who had been visiting her comrade and making sure everything was on track - sighed.

Several kilometers away, a orange-skinned and yellow-haired gem stepped out. She was extremely famous and well-known throughout all four Courts. She was perhaps the most famous Garnet of them all, after only the four Uvarovites of the White Court itself, the mistresses of the military for the entirety of the Empire, second in command in that area to only the Diamonds themselves.

And Hessonite, as she stepped foot on the space station that represented the outermost point of the Pink Court’s power in the solar system that held Earth, was all too pleased, looking off in the rough direction of the sun - and a certain capital planet. “Ah, Earth. Did you miss me?” A strange-looking smile crossed her face. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”

Somewhere on Earth, a Prism floated.

And from somewhere else, the signal that it had been waiting for came.


	2. Obviously (connected)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The problems begin.

“The bits! The bits!” The chanting went on like it usually did, and Peedee chuckled a little like a grown man (or an older teenager) might.

“Okay, okay! Here you go, Steven.” Peedee sighed as he handed the actually-older but regardless-smaller hybrid a sack, filled with the cut-up fries that he loved so much.

“Yay! Fry bits!” The starry-eyed diamond child sang as Peedee gave him his favorite junk food.

“Can I have-” Amethyst began to say, only to be cut off mid sentence by Peedee sticking out another sack, this one just as full of fries and topped with ranch and bacon. “You’re the best, man.” She declared, already walking off to follow Steven.

“Ah, fry bits… what would I do without you?” Steven sighed, as he dug his hands in to start eating.

Two seconds later, as a tongue came out of thin air and snatched them out of his hands, the question got answered.

“Huh?!” Amethyst jumped slightly, hand already going to her chest as her whip appeared.

As she prepared for battle, though, she dropped her fry bits.

And just like Steven’s had been, hers got snapped up by an invisible tongue within a few seconds.

“There!” Amethyst had already started swinging with her whip - she couldn’t see what she was aiming at, but had seen where the fry bits had disappeared. And slicing it through the general area a few times… there! Grinning as her whip made contact with _something_ , she sent an electrical charge down it. And less than a second later, something started to phase into view.

“Is that a chameleon?” Steven sounded confused as the large chameleon writhed in the clutches of Amethyst’s whip. Amethyst took one look, and her eyes widened a little, before she sent a lot more electricity down the whip. It wasn’t enough to destroy the chameleon, but it wasn’t going to be doing all that much until she let go. “Steven, you remember that communicator your mom told you to bring just for her?”

Steven was already searching his backpack fiercely. “Yeah - I got it!” he announced, pulling out a tablet. 

It was fairly small and simple, all things considered - maybe the size of a business card or a little bit bigger, and not much thicker than a folded-up pamphlet. In other universes, it could probably have been passed off as a sized-down smartphone. Which was pretty close to what its purpose was here.

Small, and stealthy - custom-made by a Peridot and Dolomite who both worked for the Inner Court. Something that could be slipped into the fold of someone’s jeans and left there, or the inside of a backpack or inside a book (or even the battery pack of a larger all-tool or computer). This was thanks to several “sticky modules” that had been installed on both ends (and thanks to some very specifically-designed sensors, they all turned off when a certain someone tried to grab it).

There were so many measures Pink Diamond had taken to keep Steven safe, some of the gems in the Inner Court were still amazed she hadn’t kept him confined to the Moon Palace for his entire life.

“Well, tell Pearl we’re dealing with a Prism! She’ll know what it means!” Amethyst stated, her “business face” sliding on. After all, she was a Quartz, and her charge was in danger.

“A Prism? Like-”

“Yeah, like that!” Amethyst said in a fairly snappish tone. “Call your mom, dude!”

  
  
  
  
  


BEEEP! BEEEEPPPPP!

Pink Diamond had been knee-deep in the typical paperwork load that she had to go through with Pearl, half-paying attention to a message from one of the Inner Court’s Hyacinths on a somewhat-questionable trial and the aftermath. 

Right up until an emergency line that she’d had Steven take along with him went off. After that, if she’d had a heart, its beating rate would have doubled within ten seconds. “PEARL!” Her partner had already bolted, grabbing the communicator set up behind the throne (and as such, out of the gaze of the other Diamonds when they called her).

“STEVEN!” Pearl herself all but screamed into the communicator, feeling a wave of relief shoot over her when she saw him - and most importantly, she saw him without any visible injuries or distress.

“Hi, Pearl!” Steven waved cheerfully at one of his more prominent mother figures. “Amethyst said to tell you that there’s a Prism attacking us, but it’s not too bad.”

“A PRISM?!” Pearl felt a great deal of anger overcoming her previous - well, concern was still present, but anger was starting to overpower it. “Steven - there are only three Prisms in existence. A Prism in our space causing issues-”

“I don’t think it’s meant like, to seriously hurt someone, Pearl.” Amethyst cut in, appearing at his side, sneaking a look over his shoulder. “I don’t see any Light Warriors or anything - and the constructs are like, all super small.”

“They could simply be testing our defenses, though.” Pearl replied, feeling herself calm down (or rather, feeling her brain go into “commander mode”), already running through the list of Quartzes who worked at the closest Palaces. “I’ll send-”

“Pearl, do what you feel is necessary, but there may be no need.”

There was a brief silence before Steven waved cheerfully. “Hi mom!”

“Uh… My Diamond? Are you feeling okay?” Pearl looked as though she wasn’t sure she had heard Pink Diamond correctly.

“Well, I am annoyed right now, but not concerned.” There was another sigh. “Amethyst, we’re sending some backup, but don’t feel too concerned. I just got word that Hessonite has arrived.”

Comprehension dawned in Amethyst’s eyes. “I’ll spread the word!”

Pearl moaned in despair. “ _Again?_ What does she think she’s doing?”

“WHOOO! This will be AWESOME! ADVENTURE!” Steven cheered. “Can I go this time? Please?”

Pink Diamond just gave a fond sigh at her son’s exuberance. “...stay in the back, don’t fight the constructs directly unless they go after you, bring a gem disruptor, and you can watch everyone else fight.”

“But…” Steven started to pout. “Can’t I just hit them with my super strength?”

“When it starts working regularly, yes.” Pink Diamond smiled. “I’ll see you later, sweetie. You too, Amethyst.”

Without waiting further, she nodded to them, and switched the call off. Then, she gave Pearl a look. “Oh, Pearl? Call Hessonite and have her redirected here and talk with her, will you?”

“I was thinking just the same thing!” Pearl chirped, her monitor already pulling up a communication line to a certain yellow-orange garnet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peedee is actually the same age that he is in canon - but you wouldn't know it by looking at him.
> 
> (Yes, he and Ronaldo are both human geminals too).


	3. Subversions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are not quite what they seem to be.

“Hey Gur!”

The other Amethyst (Cut 8XI, specifically) came out of the spindash she’d been in, that had just run over three separate constructs (two of the red “cannoneers” and a blue warrior with a “sword”), and waved at her fellow Amethyst. “Amethyst! You get through to the boss?” She gave a nod behind her, to the fry shop and pizza shop, where both the Pizzas and Frymans had run into their stores the second both Amethysts had pulled out their weapons (and as such, hadn’t seen Steven contacting Pearl).”Everyone’s already ducked and covered the second they saw these guys. But if there’s a Prism doing things down here, it could be a lot worse if we don’t find it. This is barely a warmup compared to what they can do when they’re trying!”

“Don’t worry, I got through to boss! Apparently Hessonite just got back and that’s where they’re all coming from.” Amethyst replied, shaking her head. “So, this’ll probably be over in a bit, and we can PARTY!”

Gur’s grin grew. “WHOO! Let’s go beat things up, then!”

“Can I go see dad, then? Maybe he’ll want to come!” Steven asked quickly.

“Go ahead! We’ll tell you when we figure out where to go, we’ve got this in the bag!” Amethyst replied.

Cheering, the two Amethysts ran off, and Steven went in the opposite direction, towards the car wash.

  
  
  


Greg’s day had gotten very weird out of nowhere. 

For starters, there was the fact that several small red… things? Had walked up to the house and started using his front lawn as a shooting location, and they’d started by blasting the nearby statue of Rose in her Pink Diamond form.

They weren’t doing any real damage, considering the statue had been made to last, but when he’d gone outside from his studio in the living room to see what they were doing, a bunch of meter-high blue similar-things with swords that had an orb instead of a point had gone up and started smacking him!

They hadn’t pursued him when he went inside, and the hits didn’t look like they would bruise, but they had stung a lot. Overall? It really seemed like someone had gone to a lot of trouble to do minor vandalism that didn’t even seem like it was going to have any lasting effects.

“Dad!” Came a voice at the front door, one that he knew very well.

“Steven! Er, come on in.” He said, opening the door hastily, and kicking one of the small blue things out onto the well-sized lawn before he shut it again. “Uh, what’s going on? These guys don’t look like gems, but they aren’t human! And they shouldn’t be here, but they aren’t doing anything really bad.”

“I think it’s a Prism! That’s what Amethyst and Pearl said.” Steven replied.

This just made Greg more concerned. “Um… aren’t the Prisms, like, super-weapons? Like, modeled after White Diamond to create a massive number of light constructs that can and have overrun ARMIES in the right hands?!”

“Yeah! But mom says it’s probably just a Hessonite celebrating coming back to Earth or something. It sounded like they know each other? And she didn’t seem worried. Just annoyed.” Steven’s own lack of concern was slightly infectious, and Greg found himself calming down. A little.

Then, someone else started knocking at the door, and it was far more frantic. “STEVEN!”

“Connie!” Steven ran towards the door without waiting, already opening the door. Doug and Connie stumbled in two seconds later, Doug stabbing the disruptor taser he’d been given into a blue construct that was trying to follow them. A few seconds later, after it had dissolved completely, he slammed the door shut and reached for his communicator. “Everyone, I have confirmation that both Steven and Greg Universe, as well as my daughter, are safe. There’s a mob of those constructs outside, but they aren’t focusing on us.”

“Thanks, man.” Came a voice from over the communicator that sounded like an Amethyst. “We’ll head your way… in a while, okay? These guys aren’t a big threat. Call us if something changes.”

“Understood.” Doug replied, before putting it away. “Well, I suppose we had better wait, then.”

At least, that was what they thought.

Then, another construct appeared down the street, this one visible from the front window.

It was a lot bigger.

  
  
  


Hessonite was in a wonderful mood.

She had returned to Earth at last, after far too long away. And Pink had summoned her to the Moon Palace right after she entered the system! 

She was hardly certain what wonderful thing she could have done that would lead to Pink Diamond summoning her to arrive personally, but well, she could wait. Perhaps she would be allowed to linger more on Earth this time before she had to go back out.

As her personal ship split off from the vaster “jump drive” ship, as it had been dubbed most recently, she took note of the vast edifices upon Earth’s mostly-hollow moon. She had seen them numerous times before, but the sections composed of greenery (and the green dots in between the more industrial gem areas) were always rather odd to see, compared to what she dealt with in the Yellow Court. As her ship zoomed closer, towards the shipyards near the Moon Palace, she took note of the areas where she knew the underground tram line ran to a secured bunker just outside the Palace itself. (It had apparently taken the Calcites, Bismuths, and Beryls ages to bring in all of the earth that they needed to make it a genuinely “underground” tram line again, after all of the hollowing).

The shipyard she was landing at hosted one of those trams, and soon she would be on it. 

“Ah! Hello, ever-” Hessonite walked out of her ship first, the six Citrines who were going with her to the Moon Palace following behind. 

They all stopped dead less than five feet outside the ship, and Hessonite’s casual declaration of her arrival got stopped short by surprise.

The ten Rose Quartzes, plus the four Amethysts, led by the Ultimate Jasper, all of them sporting frowns, were more than enough reason for that.

“...Is there something I missed?” Hessonite asked.

“Did I forget to salute Pink Diamond?” One of the Citrines asked, her arms already in the salute. One of the Rose Quartzes chuckled.

“Yes, on both counts, really.” Came a voice from behind the Quartzes. Almost as one, they all moved to the sides to form two straight lines. Revealing the only Pearl who worked on the Moon Palace - the Pearl of Pink Diamond, and her most trusted confidant - was standing behind them.

“Um… Pearl? Is… something wrong?” At this point, if they had been human, the new arrivals would all have had sweat running down their palms and their backs like mad. Seeing Pink Diamond’s right-hand gem outside of the Palace without her partner, and looking at you with an annoyed expression was rarely a sign of good things to come, in the higher echelons of the Pink Court. 

“That all depends on how you respond to my questions.” Pearl replied. 

Hessonite’s previously-good mood was now sinking like a sniped balloon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out way faster than I expected. I might slow down in the near future, though - I am starting a new job soon.


	4. Question Authority

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hessonite doesn't mind getting to see Pink Diamond's Moon Palace from the inside.

Normally, in the Gem Empire, Pearls were seen as the lowest of the low in the gem caste system, if you went by a technical perspective. In theory, anyone could give them an order, and they would have to follow it, unless their owner had given them contradictory orders and the gem trying to order them around wasn’t higher ranking than said owner. 

In practice, it was a great deal more complicated.

Several times, when a Pearl had ignored someone using this knowledge, the results had gone to court. Those cases usually ended in the Pearl getting lectured by their owner if said owner was one of the less benevolent type of nobles, or watching smugly as their accuser got sentenced by the judge for trying to go against the orders of someone else in the caste system.

And all of these events had been normal long before humans or geminals became a part of the problem.

Now, things were even more complex. How should the caste system handle the inclusion of humanity and hybrids? If Peridots or Quartzes were assigned to a human manager or general who had more experience, not listening to them or trying to order them around could undermine the entire caste system. 

Before Earth had been unified under Pink Diamond, gems from the other Courts had more than once refused to listen to their human generals in the Pink Court when war was declared. More than a few of those gems had lost their lives as a result.

But the Diamonds themselves had unanimously declared that humans and hybrids were to be seen as lesser than true gems. (Or at least, that was what the public records claimed). But how should they handle things, when the rank of the human in their systems was greater than that of a gem?

The arguments had gone on for thousands of years, among every single Court which had humans or hybrids as a part of it (in other words, all of the non-White courts), as well as all the gems who were not a part of any specific court due to their positions requiring them to be moved around to where they were needed. Philosophers, politicians, therapists, and numerous others had been debating it for all that time how the decree should be interpreted. But still, even if the lines of the caste systems were more blurred than they were before (for non-White gems), the lines defined by White Diamond were still visible to anyone with any real knowledge of the Empire.

So if anyone had looked into the debriefing room of the Moon Palace without any knowledge of the staff, seeing a Pearl without any clear indicators of who she “belonged” to glaring furiously at a Hessonite... 

They would have wondered, to be blunt, what the hell was going on.

“What exactly do you think you are doing?” Pearl asked darkly.

“Well! I was hardly expecting to be interrogated when I got back. Did I miss anything?” Hessonite replied in a cheerful tone.

“Spare me the coprolite, Hessonite. Your ship sent out a transmission the second you and your guards arrived at the outskirts of the system, and we tracked it to Earth.” Pearl replied flatly. “It’s clear that you’re involved. Before the Light Warrior was involved we might have been able to overlook it, though.”

“The - what?” Hessonite’s look had gone flat. And her voice had become confused, changing from her previous air of amusement.

Pearl frowned. “Roughly fifteen minutes before you arrived here, Beach City was attacked by a large number of Prism construct warriors. Considering that they were all at best low-grade and that nobody was hurt-”

“ _Was_?” Hessonite’s confusion audibly became dread.

In response to her change in tone, Pearl’s glare became… well… it didn’t go away. It didn’t intensify. But it became… distant. Then, she sighed and shook her head. “There haven’t been any deaths, or serious injuries. But… we’ve done a scan. And there’s a Prism signature in the nearby forest. Neither Demantoid or Pyrope have appeared to blight us in the last twenty-four hours, and you just returned-”

“I’m the suspect?! Pearl, that doesn’t make any sense. I just got back!” Hessonite looked rather angered, now. "I don't exactly have a Diamond Communicator set up with George at all times!"

“He could easily detect that you were back when you arrived in our solar system, Hessonite! We detected a message coming down to Earth from your ship, likely just for him!” Pearl countered.

"That could have been anyone on my crew who sent it, not just me!" Hessonite countered.

Before Pearl could reply, a hum came from beside her. Then, she took a look at her alltool, and frooze. “New information has just arrived. The Dolomites have gone through your vessel and analyzed the central computer… and they suspect that the message was programmed beforehand, to send an alert when you returned to Earth.” She shot Hessonite a look. "And whoever it was used your gem's magical signature to authorize the decision."

“I had no involvement in such an event. I do not know of any messages that were sent from the shipboard computer before we returned to Earth.” Hessonite replied quickly. Then, she froze.

“...are you prepared to stand by that statement in court, Hessonite? Because currently, Rose Quartz Facet 2(F2B) Cut 9RE, Steven, and Greg’s house needs its front half replaced, Pink Diamond has sent more than two hundred Quartz soldiers down to Beach City, and Bismuth is being told to look through some of her older weapons for ways to deal with a Light Warrior should any more appear.” Pink Diamond's right hand woman had a dark look on her face. “And we all know who the only other suspect for this besides you is.”

“...No. He wouldn’t. He…” Hessonite hesitated. Pearl sighed.

“George has been doing his best while you were away. And your guards are too.” Her eyes softened. “But… he isn’t perfect, Hessonite. And neither are you.”

The yellow gem nodded. She didn’t say anything, though.

“...The Quartzes are going into the forest soon. I expect that they’ll find George quickly enough. And we’ll get our answers when we find him.” Pearl sighed. "Nobody has been hurt, at least. Just scared."

Hessonite said nothing.

“Would you like to join them?” Pearl asked, after looking over her pad. “I can safely say that Pink Diamond would not mind you taking the field to help. As long as you do not let your personal life affect how you deal with the constructs… or whose side you decide to take.”

“Yes.” Hessonite’s reply was eerie in how dead it was. “I have a certain someone who I need to talk to.”

And with that, one of the top generals of the Pink Court got up from her seat, strode for the door-

BANG!

“Ow!”

And fell on her butt, as she had forgotten completely that the door was locked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the best chapter that I have ever done. Lately, I think the sun going away again has been messing with my head a bit. Not much of an excuse, but I really am just glad that this chapter is out there now. Tell me what you think, ask me non-spoilery questions, whichever you please.
> 
> And yes, Hessonite is part of the Pink Court now. I think I got her ego and her love of drama down well, but I could be wrong.


	5. Impressing Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the attack on Beach City starts to die down, things begin to get interesting in new ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this took me a while to write. I hope you enjoyed what I wrote in the meantime.
> 
> But fear not, I have not abandoned this series!

The forest outside of Beach City had been given the relatively creative name of “Rose Wood” or “the Rosewood” by the Quartzes who guarded the outskirts of the city. Whether it was because of all the Rose Quartzes who loved spending some of their free time there, gardening or just relaxing among all the plants, or something else entirely, nobody who cared and was unwilling to ask about it due to pride knew how the name had come around.

If you didn’t care, then they wouldn’t trouble you with the knowledge, but that didn’t really matter all that much.

In the end, the forest had indeed been named for the Rose Quartzes who lived in Beach City and who were some of its most pleasant defenders. (Beach City’s most dedicated defender was the Ultimate Quartz of Pink Diamond, even though she didn’t spend all of her time there. She would also be the most powerful defender of the town, (unless you counted Pink Diamond herself, since her public persona was as a Rose Quartz. A Rose Quartz who - at rare times - was sent down from the Moon Palace to help guard the outskirts and so that she could see her son)). 

However, before today, the town had never really needed defenders. It was nearly an hour away from any major cities unless a flying vehicle or warp pad was used. And considering that the coast had several of the largest cities on Earth, that was very impressive. Most of the world didn’t even know it was there - even the influx of around a dozen or so hybrid families a decade ago, and the stragglers flowing in ever since, hadn’t given it much attention. Mostly due to Pink Diamond’s orders that the location of the hybrid “living and study” areas was not to be broadcast.

The handful of human and/or gem terrorist organizations that were far enough to the ground and not extreme enough to get the Pink Court’s undivided attention had no reason to pay attention to it.

Today, however, every last military gem assigned to Beach City, and more than a few of the locals, all had their hands full dealing with the massive number of enemies they hadn’t seen coming in the slightest.

They were holding out easily, for the most part - multiple messages had been sent off, several of them straight to the Moon Palace, and none of their enemies were too dangerous.

At least, until the massive Light Warrior had attacked the house where Greg Universe and Steven Universe spent their time when they weren’t in the “front area” of the Beach Palace. 

Greg himself wasn’t sure how necessary it was to have three separate “houses” to live in, but Rose had seemed… well, he couldn’t really argue when she pointed out that she had around two dozen houses even if you only counted the Palaces.

Anyways, when the two hundred and fifteen assorted Quartzes arrived in Beach City, the Light Warrior had gone down quickly. Several Quartzes had been poofed - but none were cracked or shattered, and they had reformed a few minutes later.

All just as planned.

And in the aforementioned Rosewood, a Prism named George floated along.

If Ronaldo Fryman had been there, he would have likely gone on a minutes-long description of the Prisms - how they were some of the Empire’s greatest soldiers, capable of summoning armies of constructs to crush others, regardless of their morality. How each of them had been assigned to a single Diamond - at least, how that was the official story, and how he had other theories he’d gathered from talking to “the right people”. He probably would have gone on long enough that he would miss everyone else fighting and the constructs surrounding him until they started whacking him with their blunted swords.

As he pondered life, George absently reached out into a few of the constructs he had left in Beach City. Chameleons, mostly.

What he saw pleased him. The Quartzes had secured the boundaries of Beach City - and most of the locals had been sent into one of the more fortified buildings (it seemed that Pink Diamond had been hesitant to reveal the Beach Palace existed and why it existed without a genuine emergency). Except for a few of the hybrids, such as Buck Dewey (being the son of an Agate meant that he was wreaking havoc aplenty on the lesser constructs), Kevin (always a gloryseeker...) - and particularly that half-Ruby, Sadie Miller. She’d actually melted the street in a few places with the sheer force of her attacks.

The Light Warrior that had been sent after the household of Steven Universe had been dispersed, and he couldn’t see any other major constructs that were still active.

Wait… Sheena was back in town.

The ferocity of her shield-throwing nearly made him wince. And the handful of bruises she had were being healed by her tears as he watched.

Oh… was that a human?

This caught his attention, as he floated along, and he paid a little more attention to Beach City instead of the Rosewood.

Yes, that was a human. No sign of a gem anywhere on her body - but she seemed to be having fun with the gem disruptor she had pulled out. And… a larger human that looked like her had a gem disruptor of his own, and even as he stabbed his constructs, he was keeping an eye on her. He must have been her father. If they were letting human children fight now without serious supervision, they must have realized that this was not a major emergency.

Well, that was fine. His job had not been to cause an emergency.

And now… for the bait.

George took his time with his next creation, thinking carefully as he floated along. The “standardized” forms he sent out for battle were time-tested and effective, but taking his time to make something special was always fun - art was usually something he only did in the Rainbow Palace.

He so rarely got the chance to watch his constructs fight people when it was just for fun.

Then, he stopped to wave to his vast, masterful, superior.

Onion waved back from his spot at the blanket he was sitting on, Star Fruits and Cookie Cats all laid out on it neatly.

Now, back to work...

  
  
  


“That was awesome!” Connie could feel her adrenaline running high. She had gotten into another adventure already!  There hadn’t been any real challenges besides the Light Warrior (which had gotten swarmed by a small army of Quartzes, without her going anywhere near it, she wasn’t stupid), but it was still so much fun.

“I’m glad you had fun, Connie, but don’t tell your mother about this, okay?” Doug smiled at her affectionately.

Before Connie could reply, a noise like screeching metal or a malfunctioning microphone filled the air. Both of them winced, and more than a few of the other people within earshot flinched too.

“INCOMING BOSS!” Came a yell from behind them.

“THEY’RE LIGHT CONSTRUCTS, NOT VIDEO GAME BOSSES, 8XD!”

“WHATEVER!”

Doug and Connie didn’t pay attention to the two arguing Quartzes. Their attention was directed towards the forest - and the tree-sized shape moving out of it.

“Connie, let’s go.” Doug announced, putting his hand on his daughter’s soldier and walking away. Connie just nodded.

She knew better than to press her luck with something that big.

Further back in the square - where the Quartzes, hybrids, and humans that weren’t fighting had all gathered, Steven’s eyes grew awestruck, as other people began muttering and several of the Quartzes started moving forwards.

“Oh mom! That monster! It’s… it’s… Hmmm…” Steven stopped for a second. “It’s…”

The colossal light construct let out a roar audible hundreds of meters away, revealing the mass of blades inside its mouth.

“It’s the Bladeinator!” Steven yelled.

Amethyst began laughing. “Steven, did you just name the monster?!” 

“Yeah!”

Amethyst 8XD had already taken a position next to the highest-priority person in Beach City, and was also gazing at the incoming monster, with the surrounding horde of constructs. “Well, I would have gone with Furnace Face… but that works too!”

  
  
  


Sending another three dozen quartzes and a garnet down to the Beach City area when more than two hundred of them were already down there would have been overkill to most people. And normally Hessonite, Pearl, and Pink Diamond would have agreed.

But currently, none of them were in a mood where overkill would be dismissed as an option.

And with that reasoning, Hessonite, the Ultimate Jasper, plus a few more of the Moon Palace’s “Inner Court” guards were moving to one of the Warp Pads. 

“Report.” Hessonite stated, as she came to the Warp Pad, her Citrines already there.

“The constructs are coming from the Rosewood near Beach City, my Hessonite.” A Citrine with her gemstone on her right knee reported. “George’s signature is coming from it as well, and currently a larger construct apparently dubbed The Bladeinator is engaging with the Quartzes in Beach City.”

Hessonite nodded, already power-walking over to the Warp Pad. “Thank you, my Citrine.” Pulling up a screen, she frowned as she saw the currently-live battle between the Bladeinator and roughly thirty Quartzes, several of them fused to take on the main body, and the rest of them either kicking away and disrupting the constructs or taking out laser weapons to take shots at the Bladeinator itself. “And who in the world named it the Bladeinator? What a horrible name.”

“Steven did."

Jasper’s blunt reply killed any further conversation that might have arisen there.

Most of the Rose Quartzes with them starting giggling, though. 

Hessonite blushed even as she glared at them. “STAND AT ATTENTION!”

The giggling cut off as Hessonite kept speaking. “The main area of Beach City is secure! Now, since the residents are all safe, we are going to proceed into the Rosewood and secure George. Hopefully, this will just be some sort of good-natured prank on his part alone…” 

“What if he isn’t?” One of the Citrines asked. “George only answers to you and Pink Diamond, and… he only answers to you half the time when there isn’t a battle. You know why.”

Hessonite was quiet, then scowled. “If he decided to cause a minor panic, get our Diamond’s family assaulted and their house partly destroyed, and me yelled at just because I took too long to get back from my job, then he’s grounded.”

And with that declaration, the Warp Pad rang to life at last, and carried the assault force down to Earth.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George finally makes contact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, this took a while. Hope you're not too upset, but here's the next chapter! Only one left now, for sure.

“Hmph!” As she cut through another construct, channeling her energy down to her feet - and through her sword - Hessonite smiled, as the massive cannon construct she’d targeted fell into pieces. She needed the stress relief, if nothing else. “How far is George?” she asked, glancing back at the group of Quartzes she’d taken with her.

“He’s… huh?”

Abruptly, Hessonite realized that she wasn’t being followed by her Quartzes. She turned around to yell at them. At least, before she noticed that they were all staring to the side, confusion apparent on all their faces.

Even Jasper’s.

“WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING!?”

This didn’t stop Hessonite from getting angry.

“There’s a kid.” One of them replied, pointing in front of her, and to the side of Hessonite. Confused by the apparent non-sequitur, Hessonite followed the limb’s direction.

For a brief moment, before she could even realize why, existential dread washed through her. Then, it vanished.

There was, indeed, what appeared to be a human child there. He waved at them.

There was a blanket on the ground next to him.

It had several items on it - a pair of star-shaped… medals? She wasn’t sure. Plus a human emblem… a badge! Yes, that was it. And what appeared to be a paper-wrapped gift.

“Why are you here?” She asked. “The woods should have been evacuated.”

He shrugged. There was no verbal reply.

“What is your name? If you tell us, we can bring you back to Beach City and to your family.” Hessonite looked at the child again.

The human child didn’t say anything. Instead, he just gestured to the blanket besides him, and the items on it.

“Are you trying to get us to buy something? When the woods are infested with dangerous and potentially-lethal constructs?” Hessonite frowned.

“Hey, what’s in the box, anyways? I need to get another present for the emergence-day gift exchange!”

Hessonite fought down the urge to facepalm as she noticed that one of the Rose Quartzes had gone up to the kid. And judging by how the box had already found its way into her hands, and how the child was holding one of _his_ hands out, she was going to be buying it.

_I swear, besides my Diamond, Pearl, Blue Sapphire, and Jasper it’s like I’m the only person in this Court who remembers how to take things seriously in a battle._

_...Besides George._

The burst of paranoia that came from this had Hessonite looking furiously around the clearing, up into the trees, and everywhere else she could. She didn’t see any constructs… but considering George had been using chameleon constructs from the start of the “attack” on Beach City, that didn’t mean too much.

But the other realization that came with it couldn’t be ignored.

_George isn’t seeing this as a battle. If he was seriously trying to hurt anyone… he would have drowned Beach City in Light Warriors by now. But he’s damaged Steven’s house, and done more than a little property damage… so what’s his ulterior motivation?_

_I didn’t tell him to do…_

Then, what Hessonite had said before she left to take her place as the Pink Court’s chief diplomat/emissary to the Yellow Court came back to her.

_Do whatever you think you need to do, but keep him safe, happy, and responsible._

Her eye twitched.

She had two people to yell at, now.

“We’re moving in two minutes, all of you!” She snapped, her tone causing every Quartz in the group except for the already-alert Jasper to snap to attention. “And 2IM, stop talking to the child - we need to get him back to Beach City, he’s not safe in these woods!”

The still-talking Rose Quartz saluted. “Yes My Hessonite! Uh, and his name is Onion, by the way.”

“All right then… 2IM, keep going while I get _Onion_ back to Beach City." She turned to Onion. "I will escort you.”

The sudden declaration that their leader was leaving them left most of the attack team very confused. But their mostly-gone battlefield reflexes from the days before Earth had been fully unified under the Pink Court - days gone for nearly two thousand years, now - were starting to resurface, and they waited for her to finish. 

“Jasper, you will be leading the team while I get 2IM back to Beach City. When you see George, contact me by video message. I will talk to him if possible. If not… I want you to ask him something.” Hessonite concluded. "Actually... ask him the question. Give me a yes or no response when you can."

“What would that be, Hessonite?” Jasper asked, as gruff as ever. Her not using the “my” honorific didn’t go unnoticed by the other gems there, or Onion (considering how he tilted his head).

But Hessonite gave her the question to ask the Pink Court’s Prism without stopping to reprimand Jasper for disrespecting her superior, so it did go uncommented on, at least.

  
  
  


“How’s it going, sis?”

As Amethyst came out of a spindash, she took a look and grinned. “Hey, 8XD! What’s up?”

The other Amethyst grinned. “Well, the constructs are all gone! Those hybrids were pretty helpful, too. Well, and that Doug guy and his daughter too. I mean, they didn’t go after the Bladeinator, but that’s probably smart.”

“Well, except that one kid.” Amethyst said, remembering how one of the hybrids had actually gone to help the crowd of Quartzes against the Bladeinator - she hadn’t really gotten his name, though. He was fairly good with a sword, however, so she would admit that he had been able to help against the massive construct. And the many escorts it had.

He’d tried to get the killing blow, too - but he hadn’t apparently had as much speed as he did strength and durability, and one of the Carnelians had beaten him to it. She couldn’t tell who at this distance, especially since the other Quartzes seemed to be dog-piling her as congratulations. (Maybe it was 3IK, then… she was always a big hugger).

“Anything left - wait, there’s Hessonite!”

Her sister’s yelp caused Amethyst to quickly take a look at the forest - and sure enough, there was the yellow garnet, coming out of the forest.

And there was somebody in front of her - was that a kid?

Shrugging, Amethyst went off to report.

Like Hessonite, for some reason she felt existential dread when she saw Onion, but she shrugged it off.

  
  


Jasper grinned as she spindashed through the next few constructs, all of which were already lined up nicely for her. There were only a few left now… and the energy signature of George was nearby, now.

They were mostly the ‘drill-beak birds’, though. Some of the most annoying types of construct the Prism had made - and one of the constructs that she enjoyed pummeling the most of all.

Grinning, she jumped towards one of them, fists engulfing themselves with the energy she typically charged into a spindash.

The drillbeak bird charged towards her in turn, drillbeak already rotating.

For a split-second, it reminded her of her Diamond’s Pearl.

POOF!  
  
CRASH!

“RAAAGH!!”

  
  
  


Seconds later…

“...Whoa, did a wasp hive fly down your throat when we weren’t looking?” One of the Amethysts looked shocked at the sheer damage Jasper had done - ten seconds ago there had been five of the large versions of the drillbeaks.

After Jasper’s sudden, very violent rampage, there were none now.

“No. Just… memories.” Jasper growled.

One of the Rose Quartzes opened her mouth. Then, she seemed to think better and closed it. This didn’t go unnoticed. “What is your statement?” Jasper asked. “I’m in command while Hessonite is away.”

The Rose Quartz looked slightly terrified, as she looked in Jasper’s direction.

Then, she noticed something that would hopefully make the Quartz forget the question. “George!” she blurted, pointing behind her and summoning her shield.

Inquiry forgotten, the Quartz troop turned around and got into combat positions. Sure enough, the Prism in question was watching from about a hundred feet off - and he was getting closer.

And he wasn’t summoning any constructs yet besides his personal one, either.

“He must have come in peace.” One of the Amethysts grinned.

Jasper, despite her best efforts to maintain her appearance as a cool and menacing professional, especially while on the job, snorted.

Within a minute, the Prism had drifted within ten feet of them. Well within striking and bubbling range for the Quartz troop before he could get away.

 _So she was right…_ Jasper reflected, before speaking up.

“I have a message from Hessonite.” Jasper stated. “For you.” George tilted his head, saying nothing but clearly curious, as Jasper continued. “It is as follows - ‘my son put you up to this, didn’t he?’”

George bobbed up and down.

The Quartzes there, who had all fought alongside him before, knew it was his version of a nod.

“Troop, pull back! We’re heading back to Beach City, and George is coming with us! We have a report to make!” Jasper ordered, snapping out of her defensive stance. George made no effort to take advantage of the opening.

The other Quartzes had already started relaxing before Jasper gave the order, and one of them had already turned around and started to run off.

“We’re moving as a group, 2IM!” Jasper barked. “Back in formation!”

“Aaww… but I can’t wait to see Hessonite yelling at him!” The Rose Quartz looked sad.

“...We can wait to inform Hessonite until we get back to Beach City, then.” Jasper decided.

She would deny for a long time that her call had been made because she wanted to see it herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Guess what? The characters of the Light video game series are canon! Sadly, I have never played Unleash the Light myself, but here is something a bit close to Save the Light.
> 
> Not sure that I'll be able to do the battles justice, since I can't remember ever writing any before, but I will try.
> 
> The constructs that will be fighting are a mixture of the ones from both Attack the Light and Save the Light.


End file.
